Absorbing and jocular, Stars’ current exhibition, “Janet Olivia Henry’s Recent Academic Abstractions,” is where tableaux dioramas become the central force and unique vantage point from which deliberate performance emerges from assemblage and sculpture. In Wrought: WAC’s Drum Corps (2007–24), Henry’s compositions made up of legos, miniature collectables, action figures and dolls and handcrafted elements, are excellent at narrating the multiple realities in and outside of the art world. In this multiroom scene, there’s a storage room of tools, boxes, journals and supplies, admirably arranged as if the space was truly utilized. Adjacent to it lies another room with black and white flyers scattered on the ground, a homage to Ana Mendieta, bearing the text “¿Donde está Ana?” Cutting and joyful, Henry’s well-dressed and eclectic figurines gather for food and music, while a Christmas tree is fully decorated and a dog approaches the garbage bins outside. Surrounding these dioramas, there are meticulous and brightly colored notebook scale drawings and collages that capture the same fantastic and peculiar sensibility that oscillates between an ironic and earnest use of camp. Reveling in the absurd with heightened alertness, Henry holds a discursive position leading viewers to question, probe and laugh at the places where the politics of culture occur.

Stars
3116 North El Centro Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
On view through May 11, 2024